Armstrong given 21 days to appeal against UCI verdict stripping him of all victories post '98

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has been notified by the UCI (International Cycling Union) that he as three weeks to appeal against a decision that saw him being stripped of all the titles he won after July 1998.

"Lance Armstrong's lawyer was notified on 6th December that all his results since 1st August 1998 were nullified. He has 21 days to appeal (from that date)," Sport24 quoted the UCI, as saying.

According to the report, the 41-year-old Armstrong had his seven Tour de France victories scratched from the records and was banned from cycling for life in October after the UCI ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) sanctions against him.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said this month it would wait for the UCI to notify Armstrong that his titles were being taken away and give him the right to appeal before stripping him of his 2000 Sydney Olympics bronze medal.

"The IOC today will not move because we need to have the situation whereby the UCI notifies officially Mr Armstrong of the fact that he will be disqualified and declared ineligible and that he should hand over his medal," IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters.

"When he will be notified Mr Armstrong will have 21 days to launch an appeal. It is only after that period that the IOC can legally take action," he added.

Armstrong, who won the medal in the individual time trial, has repeatedly denied doping and never tested positive for drugs, the report said.

However, the USADA published a report that said the now-retired rider had been involved in the "most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen," it added. (ANI)